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Results: 1 - 15 of 41
View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Madam Chair, the oil sector and its workers continue to be affected by COVID-19 and the global surge in oil supply. Our government has taken action, including providing funding to B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan, that will clean up as many as 40,000 inactive and abandoned wells while creating thousands of jobs.
In fact, a study by AltaCorp Capital said this money could double the entire market for well abandonment reclamation work in western Canada and is projected to create up to 15,000 to 21,000—
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Madam Chair, nothing could be further from the truth. Our government understands that businesses in the energy sector are dealing with unprecedented challenges.
Through the BCAP, we are helping SMEs that make up to 85% of the jobs in the sector have access to the liquidity they need to cover operational expenses during this very challenging time.
Many companies are indeed working with their financial institutions—more than 120 financial institutions, I may add—and we—
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Kwe. Hadlookut. Tansi. Greetings and bonjour.
I want to acknowledge that I'm speaking to you from my office in Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, Treaty 1 territory as well as the traditional homeland of the Métis Nation, and a city that is now home to many Inuit.
I'm happy to be here today with Minister Miller and Minister Bennett to clarify and contextualize the actions the Government of Canada has taken and continues to take to assist indigenous nations and all northerners during this COVID-19 pandemic. I also thank you for this opportunity to discuss the important work Northern Affairs is doing to confront and mitigate the situation in regard to COVID in the north.
I'd like to take the time to thank the public service for their adaptability and professionalism. They have been working under very difficult circumstances these last few months in their commitment to serving Canadians.
We recognize that many Canadians are facing financial hardships, and they are concerned for their health, their jobs and their families. This is especially true in Canada's north, but there are exceptional challenges in meeting the unique needs of northerners in this pandemic.
The supports I will speak to today augment ongoing funding and programs to help those living in remote and northern communities.
These estimates include key initiatives and new funding totalling approximately $879.5 million. Of that amount, $130.8 million is for Northern Affairs. This includes $15.9 million in vote 10 grants and contributions for the north, of which $10 million is to support research and higher education in Canada's north, and $6 million is to support planning activities led by the Government of Northwest Territories for the proposed Taltson hydroelectricity expansion project.
In response to the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, we have committed to additional investments and expanded measures and support for the north, which are included in these supplementary estimates. Our government's objective is to provide needed support to address the concerns facing the north, including support for health and social services and nutrition, as well as air transport. This is based on critical priorities identified by the territories in order to prepare for and respond to the pandemic and to avoid the spread of the virus.
We also recognize the increased costs of many essential goods in the north. Families are facing increased financial pressures and should not be worried about how to pay for nutritious food or essential household items. That's why we have committed up to $25 million to support enhancements to Nutrition North Canada, further safeguarding food security for people living in the north.
This funding will help ensure that Nutrition North Canada fulfills its mandate to improve access to healthy foods through nutritional education and subsidies. By doing so, we will help to alleviate the costs of food in isolated communities. We have seen recently what this means on the ground in cutting the cost of flour in half and making milk more affordable so that people can afford a four-litre bag rather than the one litre that they may have previously purchased. This support is in addition to the harvesters grant, which was developed in direct collaboration with indigenous partners. This grant is helping northerners access traditional foods by lowering the cost of getting out on the land.
We have invested up to $72.6 million to address urgent health care and social service needs in the territories in response to COVID and, as you know, airlines are a critical link in maintaining the supply chain for the movement of essential goods and services. That's why we have provided up to $17.3 million to enable the continuation of northern air services supporting essential resupply and medical services in the north. We recognize the essential role that a focused and reliable air network plays in enabling the movement of essential goods and services in response to the pandemic.
Funding has been disbursed already for the urgent healthcare and social support needs in the territories in response to COVID-19 and to enable the continuation of northern air services supporting essential resupply and medical services in the north.
We continue to work closely with indigenous partners as well as provincial and territorial governments to ensure that northerners get through this difficult time.
I want to thank you again for this opportunity to be here today. I look forward to your questions.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
We recognize that mining is the economic backbone of northern communities, and we support mining industry workers and their families. Mining produces more than $3 billion in minerals annually and more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. We are working hard to respond to the challenges posed by this pandemic. Emergency response payments, wage assistance and small business relief are flowing to meet the critical needs of those who require it.
I had a good meeting with the chamber of mines about a month ago. I'm working closely with the Minister of Natural Resources towards this issue. I look forward to coming back with help that will be tangible and will be of aid to the mining industry.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
That's an excellent question.
I will turn to the DM to clarify that question for Mr. Zimmer.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Yes, that's an excellent question.
I know that in April we announced $17.3 million to support a focused and reliable air network for all three territories and the moving of essential goods, medicines and foods. The funding has been disbursed, with $3.6 million to Yukon, $8.7 million to the Northwest Territories and $5 million to Nunavut. Those consultations are ongoing. I know that the public service is meeting with the industry, as is Minister Garneau, to look at how we can further help the industry. Those decisions have not been made yet, but I know those discussions are ongoing. I agree that it's essential to the north.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
I don't have a precise timeline, but I would say sooner rather than later.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
I know the conversations are occurring. There's a lot of communication among the different departments of the public service, and I hope those answers will be coming very soon.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Thank you.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Thank you so much, Jaime. That's a great question.
First of all, I want to say clearly that the images we've been seeing on television for the last couple of weeks—whether it's in Nunavut, Alberta, the Maritimes or Minneapolis—are absolutely unacceptable. For me personally, they are revolting. It's something that our country, our society, can really no longer put up with.
I'm talking to you from Winnipeg, and when I first started getting involved in community issues and politics, there was something called the aboriginal justice inquiry that kicked off in the late 1980s. Judge Murray Sinclair presided over it. Three years or four years later, there was a big book of recommendations on how we work ourselves out of it. Successive governments since that time have done something; others have not done anything.
The bottom line is that 20-some years later, there is not a lot of change in the city of Winnipeg. We've had three shootings of young indigenous people in the last six months. That is unacceptable.
Since then, of course, we've had the calls to action from the truth and reconciliation commission. We've had the inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous girls and women.
I think that all levels of government have been shown the way over successive years. What we really need to do is to act, to do something more dramatic, which hasn't been done in a long time.
There are no simple solutions. There is no silver bullet that's going to turn all of this around. We have to take collective action. We have to take a whole-of-government approach and a whole-of-society approach. That's the way to do it.
In trying to answer your question, I know that our government has spent unprecedented amounts, at least $25 billion in new money, to try to change education, health care and infrastructure, to try to change those social determinants of health to let young people have a better chance out there.
However, it's not just the indigenous population; it's the non-indigenous population that has an even greater responsibility. It is really built into our colonial system, where the first three policy objectives of the Government of Canada were to civilize, to Christianize and to assimilate indigenous people into Canadian life way back when Canada was formed. That is really the basis of the racism. It needs to stop, and it needs a dramatic government intervention.
I hope that our government will be able to lead the way, because the images we saw of police brutality are absolutely unacceptable. We need to stop the hate, the violence, and we need to stop the racism.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
That's a great question. I don't have a lot of detailed information on the initiatives Minister Blair is moving forward on, but I think just philosophically that self-determination and letting indigenous nations take care of their own governance and take care of their own community, whether it's child and family services or whether it's policing or health, is going to bring many more positive returns than what we've been doing thus far, so it's time for a change.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Thank you so much for that very important question.
If there's anything that we've learned through these difficult times, I think it's that we need to do a better job of making sure that we are constructing more Internet communications and fibre optics throughout the north. I know that's a priority. Since I've been minister—for about six months now—I've heard that quite often in my consultations.
I can tell you that our government is spending billions of dollars over a 10-year period to improve connectivity in the north, in the Arctic and in northern provinces. It's something that's absolutely essential. We're doing it in partnership with first nations, with Inuit, with Métis communities and with rural municipalities.
As I stated earlier, the benefit has really become apparent through these difficult times. When you look at the opportunities for education and the opportunities for provision of health services to isolated communities, this can't happen fast enough. I know that several ministries within our government have prioritized this, and there are literally billions of dollars over a prolonged period that are going to be invested in this service.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Thank you for that important question.
I know that the Nutrition North program has an advisory board. Nellie Cournoyea from Northwest Territories—I hope I'm not wrong there—is the chairperson. I met with her recently.
There is a committee, the Nutrition North Canada Advisory Board, that meets regularly with the administration. They go over the parameters and the terms of reference. They were instrumental in the rollout—as was ITK—of the harvesters grant program, which subsidizes indigenous nations and individuals getting out onto the land and going back to traditional food gathering, hunting and fishing. We take a lot of advice from the Nutrition North Canada Advisory Board.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
There's no good answer for that. I know that raspberries and strawberries, based on what you've just said, are really unaffordable. We are working closely with the advisory committee. We're working closely with people on the ground in the north and in the Arctic to try to make our programs better. An example of that is the harvesters program.
I have no doubt that there's much more we can do, so I would suggest you call my office, or I'll call your office, and we can have a further discussion on the ideas that you have to make Nutrition North a better program. I know there's opportunity and I think a good partnership would benefit the citizens you represent.
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View Dan Vandal Profile
Lib. (MB)
Madam Chair, the whole-of-government approach is focusing on responding to the COVID outbreak and working with partners at all levels of government and with industry to secure life-saving medical supplies. We have established complementary supply chains from a range of suppliers, and we are partnering with Canadian industry to rapidly scale up and retool production capacity, ensuring a reliable domestic supply to serve our needs for the short and long term.
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